Little Miracles

We are in the middle of summer craziness, 8 weeks of nonstop ministry with visiting American groups.  In the midst of all of it, a friend recently encouraged me to take a step back and take time to notice even the little things that God is doing in our lives.  I've been trying to keep that in mind each day and here is a list of some little miracles (and some big ones!) that we've seen God do in our lives this month.

We're Keeping Our Boys!
All within the same week, three of our six boys were in real danger of having to leave the Hope Program, two because of grades and one because of failing to pay a debt on time.  We were faced with the real possibility of losing half of the people in our house, and the boys would have to go back to broken family situations, poverty, and uncertain futures.  After a week of prayer and meetings with the director of the Hope Programs, and long talks with the boys, within the course of a couple days, all three of them were able to accomplish what needed to be done to stay in the program, passing tests, finding jobs, and deciding to stick with their studies rather than drop out.  This by no means means that they are out of the woods yet.  They each have a long hard road ahead of them if they want to stay in the program for the long haul, and it will mean changes in attitude, study habits and goals for them.  But for now, our house has stayed complete, and we have three extremely grateful boys.

Testimonies
Two weeks ago, Adan and Leo both shared their testimonies in front of a large group of Americans here on the property.  It was Adan's first time speaking in front of a group, and both he and Leo did a great job, sharing some difficult moments of their lives with grace and clarity!  We are very proud of them!  Leo has also been playing the drums for group worship time here on the property, and several people have commented on his talent and obvious joy when he plays.

Leo playing with the praise band

Happy Birthday!
Eduardo, Ellen, Leo and Ruben all celebrated birthdays in the same week!  It was fun to celebrate together with them!

Happy Birthday!  Leo, Ellen and Eduardo - just missing Ruben

Tent Party
Last Sunday we had a tent party at the property and invited all of the children's homes that Back2Back supports here in Monterrey.  There were about 400 people on campus that day, eating tacos, worshiping and sharing, and playing soccer.  It was cool to be able to see all the people that Back2Back impacts in this city all together in one spot.

The sea of orange shirts

Growing, Growing
Our baby boy keeps growing more and more, and everything looks good!  We went in for a 4D ultrasound this week and were able to see clear pictures of his face - we think he looks like Ana!

Baby Hernandez - 6 months

A Month in Pictures

It’s time to play a little catch up!  Here is a bit about what we have been up to the past month.

One Friday night we decided to get the boys out of the house, so we took a walk in the Macroplaza in downtown Monterrey.  It is the largest plaza in Latin America, and we walked for several hours.  It was fun to see the boys run around and just be goofy.

Jaime, Eduardo, Ellen, Ana, Oscar and Adan

Eduardo and Adan find a huge horse

We took a group of teens from the Hope Program (some from our house, and some from other houses) to Saltillo one Sunday to visit our old church, Vida Internacional, and do some sightseeing.

Our group at the Mirador, the highest point in Saltillo

The slogan of this restaurant is "If you haven't been to Las Brazas, you haven't been to Saltillo", so we couldn't leave without taking the teens here!

Jaime, our youngest boy in the house, turned 16 years old.  He didn't ask for any gifts, and didn't have any ideas when we asked him where he would like to go out for dinner, but specifically asked for an ice cream cake for his special day.

Jaime and his cake

I think he enjoyed it...

The weather has warmed up here in Monterrey, and the pool is now open on the Back2Back campus.  Ana loves the pool!!

Ready to swim!

Ana and I have started going to a children's home called Casa Hogar del Norte on Thursday mornings with a group of other staff women to play with the 1 and 2 year olds there.  Sadly, these kids rarely get to be taken out of their cribs all day, so it is fun to be able to give them the opportunity to play and run around, at least for a little bit.  It is fun to watch Ana "minister" to the kids her age!

Playing with the kids

Ana helping with early stimulation exercises

And there you have it!  May promises to be a slower month as we gear up for a crazy summer.  We will be receiving a large number of mission teams in June and July.  Oscar is becoming more and more involved in working with the American teams, so I'm sure they will keep him busy!

Bonding Time

Recently, our house gained three new boys, making for a total of seven in the house.  We received some extra money for a family outing the same week as they came, which to us was part of God's perfect timing as we were looking for ways to bring the "old" boys and the "new" boys together.  We took them to Incredible Pizza, an all you can eat pizza buffet with arcade games.  The boys were in heaven!  At one point, I found all of them sitting in a row playing the same race car driving game.  For 15 to 18 year old boys, I don't know if you can get more united than that!  They had a blast playing the games, winning points and collecting tickets, and just being boys.  The night was a great first step in getting used to being all together as a family, and the boys continue to grow closer to one another.

All together driving cars

Meanwhile, Ana finds her own favorite game

Pure excitement!

Our new family

A Growing Family

We recently took this nice photo of us with our four boys to hang in the living room.

Back: Eduardo, Oscar, Ellen, Ana, Ruben
Front: Leo and Edgar

Less than a week later, we learned that we would be receiving three new boys in our home.  Jaime, Adan and Chuy have been with us for a week now, and they seem to be adjusting well.  All three of them are in high school and are very sweet guys.  The house is definitely louder now though!

AND speaking of larger families, we are pleased to announce that baby number 2 is on his or her way, and will be here in September!

Baby Hernandez' first picture!

With all of these changes, it looks like we need a new family picture soon!

The Rio

With our principal ministry being our home, it isn't often that we get out to serve in the orphanages or impoverished communities that Back2Back is connected with.  But last Saturday we made it a point to do just that.  We went out to a poor community called the Rio with several other staff, where we helped serve a meal at a soup kitchen, put on a small children's program while the director of the soup kitchen gave a small program for the adults.
The people in this community live in makeshift homes constructed out of whatever materials they can find - cardboard, scraps of metal, plastic tarps, mattress springs...   The houses are very close to a riverbed which overflows whenever Monterrey receives heavy rains.  When Hurricane Alex hit earlier this year, most of the houses were washed away and had to be rebuilt.

Some houses in the Rio

Ana walking through the neighborhood

Aside from the just plain obvious need, Back2Back decided to work in this community because a lot of the children who end up in the orphanages come from situations like this.  If we can minister to the families who live here while they are still together, perhaps we can help them remain together and avoid another child being put into an orphanage.  Studies show that even if materially a family has nothing, but the children are with their parents, they will be emotionally healthier than if they were in an orphanage, even if they have better physical conditions in the orphanage.  Back2Back therefore is trying to help these families meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  

Women of the Rio enjoying a meal in the soup kitchen

Spending a day in the Rio humbles you and makes you realize how much you have.  It also encourages me that the education and life lessons that we share with the boys in our house will make it possible for them to begin to break this cycle of poverty in their families and be able live a life very different from this in the future.

Thankful

This was definitely a different Thanksgiving for us.  Since moving to Mexico, we usually celebrated Thanksgiving with a small group of friends in our home.  This year we celebrated with 150 other people with a buffet style spread, including 8 huge turkeys, and ate in a big white tent.

After the meal there was a time of worship and a short reflection.  But my favorite time of the evening was actually after the formal, planned program had ended.  A group of students from the Hope Program picked up the instruments and microphones and continued worshiping well into the night.  A lot of times it takes a lot of asking and reminding to get our teens to participate in community events, so it was so refreshing to watch them do this out of their own initiative.  

If I may take a moment to brag, the young man sitting on the box drum (I'm sure there's a real name for that instrument, but I don't know what it is!) is Leo, one of the boys who live in our house.  He is 17 years old and finishing up high school.  He is very intelligent and gifted in the arts.  He got 100% on his math final exam this week, and is an incredible artist.  But his real passion is drumming.  Whenever he plays, he becomes so animated and always has a huge grin on his face.  He plays the drums every Sunday at a church in Casa Hogar Douglas, a nearby orphanage that Back2Back supports, and several people have told me that seeing Leo play is their favorite part of Sunday morning.  I'm excited to see what Leo decides to study in college and how he will use his talents in the future!

The Heart of Back2Back Ministries

Check out this short video about what Back2Back Ministries is all about. We are blessed to be a small part of this ministry!